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Oklahoma No. 1, Mizzou No. 21

Missouri Tigers head football coach Gary Pinkel asks for an explanation for a call from the officials in the first quarter against the Baylor Bears at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri on October 7, 2009. UPI/Bill GreenblattUPI/Bill Greenblatt

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — The first edition of the USA Today coaches’ poll for the 2011 college football season was released Thursday morning. The Missouri Tigers were ranked No. 21 and are joined by four other Big 12 Conference teams, including No. 1 Oklahoma.

The Tigers are ranked in the preseason Top 25 for the first time since 2008 when they were in the No. 6 spot. Even though they have a new quarterback and lost a few other players, the coaches that vote for the poll feel that Gary Pinkel has a talented enough squad.

Besides Oklahoma being ranked at the top, other Big 12 teams include No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Texas A&M, and No. 24 Texas. No other teams in the conference received enough votes to make the Top 50. That means that there will probably be disparity between the five ranked teams and the rest, unless there is any surprises.

Mizzou plays at Oklahoma, at Texas A&M for the second straight season, but they host Oklahoma State and Texas.

Behind Oklahoma in the rankings is No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Oregon and No. 4 LSU. In fact, Oregon and LSU will open the season against each other at Cowboys Stadium on September 3.

Other notables include the defending national champion Auburn at No. 19, Ohio State No. 16, and Notre Dame at No. 18.